Saturday, November 2, 2013

This is a vintage mold called "kashigata". This is a beautiful Japanese vintage wooden sweets mold, sugar cake mold or cookie mold . It is a plum blossom - flower design. Kashigata was also used in the making of wagashi (nama-gashi or freshly made cake and hi-gashi or dried confectionery) for tea ceremonies.

Often made of sakura (cherry wood) and seasoned for about 3 years before carving, kashigata were used to make dried confectionery made of rice flour and sugar called rakugan. Earliest records show that this practice dates back to the mid-17th century. These confections were used as offerings and snacks for celebratory occasions and even unfortunate events. For example when a person died, it was expensive to give flowers or fresh food so, people made these sweets in the form of flowers, fish etc. These items were then placed on the "butsudan" (family shrine found in the house) for the dead person

With the advent of refrigeration, fresh fish replaced rakugan motifs like the sea bream. Sadly today, making offerings for fortunate and unfortunate events is no longer a common practice. This in turn has lessened rakugan demand although they are still found in tea ceremonies and homes. The decrease in kashigata artisans today has made kashigata carving a dying craft making kashigata itself a sought-after collectible.

The shape is that of a "kamon" which means a family crest (which crest we don't know). There are no set rules in the design of a kamon. It most commonly consists of a roundel encircling a figure of plant, animal, man-made, natural or celestial objects, all abstracted to various degrees. Religious symbols, geometric shapes and kanji were commonly used as well. These symbols are often found in logos of stores (which help to identify what they sell), sushi restaurants, and on packages of food to lend an air of elegance. Senbei (Japanese crackers) and other traditional Japanese sweets may also use one.

*You can use this mold as food mold to cook. Please clean thoroughly before using.